User:Popinart/Begalska, Viktoria

Viktoria Begalska (1975, Dnipro, Ukraine) — is a Russian contemporary artist born in Ukraine.

Bio
Vika Begalska, born in Dnepropetrovsk (Ukraine). She gradiated from the Kharkov State Design and Arts Academy. Currently based in Moscow. Her group and solo shows took place at the sites of National Centre for Contemporary Art, Moscow Museum of Modern Art, Latvian National Museum of Art, Kunsthalle Wien, Lyublyana Museum of Contemporary Art, the Zverev Centre of Modern Art, and others.

Vika Begalska became well-known by her provocative video works which referred to the performance tradition of the 70s and 80s and which the artist interpreted in her own way in the post-soviet atmosphere of the 2000s. Her famous series "From Bottom to Top", a documentation of  "40 Years Later" performance dedicated to the crack action "Genital Panic" of 1996 by Austrian artist Valie Export, reveal the theme of feminine identification from the perspective of sensuous erotism and intentional female weakness. Juggling artfully in her video projects with the notions of the sublime and the platitude, Vika attempts to research the stereotype of the gender roles without trying to impose on the viewer any subjective opinion regarding the issues of discrimination against women. Playfully putting on the mask of a silent object of repression and men's lust, and at the same time being wary of any strict judgement, she quite ironically examines the limits of female sensuality on the background of the values of the new bourgeois society.

In 2004 Vika Begalska turned to a new medium – painting. However, unlike her socially oriented videos and performances, her pictorial art is utterly sensuous and emotional. It reflects the abundance of personal motives and reveals a profound knowledge of the avant-garde's psychohistory and painting which appear to be the areas of her inspiration. Fauvism, Abstract Expressionism and "The New Wild" make the backbone of her aesthetics overlapped with a schizophrenically exciting range of colours, play of colour fields, fetishization of genital organs, and exaggerated feminine erotism which Begalska deliberately brings to the boiling point. Using the images which appear to be beyond the bounds of decency the artist in a detached manner contemplates how her expressionistic game fits in the extremely limited system of bourgeois values. Begalska masterfully affects this perception to the limit where the category of sublime turns into that of disgust.

In 2014 together with Alexander Vilkin and Diane Portland created an art group of sex workers and artists notwithstanding the gender called Tereza.

She now works in collaboration with Alexander Vilkin.

She is represented by pop/off/art gallery, Moscow.

Solo Shows

 * 2019 – Sightless Sack (with Alexander Vilkin). pop/off/art gallery, Moscow
 * 2016 – Those who have a stomach (with Alexander Vilkin). pop/off/art gallery, Moscow
 * 2015 – Gertrude (with Alexander Vilkin). pop/off/art gallery, Moscow
 * 2013 – Be Deadly. Alaska Project, Sydney
 * 2013 – From Valia with Love, Vanishing Point, Center for Contemporary art, Sydney
 * 2012 – Zigy. pop/off/art gallery, Moscow
 * 2011 – Shame. Gridchinhall, Moscow
 * 2010 – Impressionism with a fig in a pocket. pop/off/art gallery, Moscow
 * 2009 – Liquid sky. Parallel program of the 3rd Moscow Biennale of Contemporary art, Project Fabrika, Moscow
 * 2009 – Dream tsu-tsu. pop/off/art gallery, Moscow
 * 2007 – To expression.. ArtStrelka-Projects, Moscow
 * 2005 – 2 or not 2b. ArtStrelka-Projects, Moscow
 * 2004 – I want to bury you. Guelman gallery, Kiev

Group shows

 * 2014 - Girdle of Aphrodite. Luda gallery, Saint-Petersburg
 * 2014 - Spreading out painting. Museum of Moscow, Moscow
 * 2014 - Pussy Riot and the Russian tradition of protest art, Center for Contemporary art, Prague
 * 2013 - Film program of The 5th Moscow biennale of Contemporary art, Central Exhibtion Hall «Manege», Moscow
 * 2012 - In an Absolute Disorder: Contemporary Russian Art. The Kandinsky Prize (2007-2012). Arts Santa Monica, Barcelona, Spain
 * 2011 - The Kandinsky Prize. Central House of Artists, Moscow
 * 2010 - Parallel films – remakes, sequels and prequels of cinema and TV products. Кnoll Galerie, Vienna
 * 2009 - Russia from inside and outside. Universam
 * 2009 - Russia from inside and outside. “Arvardzan” Cultural centre, Yerevan, Armenia
 * 2009 - History of Russian video art. Volume 2. Moscow Museum of Modern Art, Moscow
 * 2008 - A(rt) R(ussia) T(oday) – Index. Latvian National museum of art, Riga, Latvia
 * 2007 - Photoquai. World visual arts Biennale, Paris
 * 2007 - From Russia With Love. Kunst Meran, Merano, Italy
 * 2007 - Kommunalka. Art Moscow, Central House of Artists, Moscow
 * 2007 - ArtDigital: Borderline. Special project of the 2nd Moscow Biennale of Contemporary art, M’ars gallery, Moscow
 * 2007 - Something about the power. Special project of the 2nd Moscow Biennale for Contemporary art, L-gallery, Moscow
 * 2006 - Postorang. Kunsthalle Karlplatz, Vienna
 * 2006 - "Risk Zone. Transition". 3rd Bishkek exhibition of Contemporary art, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
 * 2006 - Art-Moscow, Central House of Artists, Moscow
 * 2006 - Revolution. Transit Art Space, Stavanger, Norway
 * 2005 - Vooruit. Gent, Belgium  2005 - ArtDigital 2005:Digitalized love. M’ars gallery, Moscow
 * 2005 - Brussia. Europalia 2005, Brussels, Belgium
 * 2005 - And She Was. Transit Gallery, Mechelen, Belgium
 * 2005 - Gender unrest. Special project of the 1st Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art, Moscow Museum of Modern art, Moscow
 * 2004 7 SINS. Museum for Contemporary art, Lyublyana, Slovenia

Links

 * Official website
 * Website of Vika Begalska and Alexander Vilkin
 * Vika Begalska's page at pop/off/art gallery website
 * Art group of sex workers and artists notwithstanding the gender